Show the Love, this Valentine’s for the Food Banks NEED MILK Campaign

Cobourg, Valentine’s Day is the launch date for Northumberland Fare Share Food Banks “NEED MILK” Campaign. The board of directors determined in 2012 that the recipients of food support were only receiving what amounted to 1 milk serving per month for kids. Since that time a nutrition committee was struck to study the need and reported back that in order to increase the banks ability to give out more milk it would need more resources to do so. The initial target was to get fresh milk into the homes of families.

“Our nutrition committee, lead by Mary Daly, did a wonderful job compiling information of what families did at the time to get milk into their homes”, says Executive Director, Duncan Mackinnon, “as it turned out, with the allotment that the food bank received from the Dairy Farmer’s of Ontario and a now defunct local program, only 400 “glasses” of milk were distributed per month - that’s about 1 glass per child that we were then serving. Not nearly enough”.

The bank’s fundraising committee targeted a need for about $15,000 to get fresh milk into the homes with children. With the help of the community and a very successful golf tournament that target was reached and then some.

The nutrition committee’s report went a lot further in it’s initial report sighting that fixed income seniors were also at risk, without receiving an adequate supply of calcium in their diet. With the efforts of last year’s fundraising the food bank is in the enviable position of being able to deliver at least 14 times the amount of milk it was distributing to everyone that uses the food bank - “a wonderful accomplishment”, adds Mackinnon. “This year we need to maintain our program and that’s why we once again NEED MILK this Valentine’s Day”.

It’s easy to give, simply log onto www.fareshare.ca/donate and make a small contribution. Show a little love this Valentine’s by giving a little for milk.